On a rainy day, just like this
by Justanothersinger
Summary: 'The boy's still standing there. On the other side of the road, holding an umbrella and staring at the sky. Just like Natori had been. As ethereal as a painting brought to life.' Natori/Natsume Reincarnation AU


On a rainy day, just like this

A Natsume Yuujinchou fanfiction

Today was a strange day.

For one thing, it's raining while the sun still shone.

Natori glanced up at the sky again, from under the rim of his umbrella. It was a watery kind of blue, with the pastels of sunrise still lingering in the corners of the horizon.

Even though this was hardly a busy town, its streets were emptier than usual at this time. The rain certainly didn't help matters.

Natori, himself, wasn't a big fan of such solitude. It usually meant that something was lurking just out of sight.

Spirits, for all their love for festivities, preferred the quiet.

Something moved in the corner of his eye and he quickly tore his gaze from the sky.

…He blinks.

The boy's still standing there. On the other side of the road, holding an umbrella and staring at the sky. Just like Natori had been.

He wasn't particularly striking. Nothing out of the ordinary.

But for some reason, the sight was odd. Strange.

As ethereal as a painting brought to life.

The boy lowers his head and meets his gaze.

As Natori stares back, he sees the boy's eyes widen. His content expression shifts into a horrified one. His entire countenance shifts; he actually sees the boy take a step back. Sees him become visibly panicked, or scared, sees his chest heave.

And suddenly the ethereal aura around him makes a bit more sense.

A spirit?

Does he know who Natori is?

Surely not, as he steadies himself with a deep breath and makes his way over towards the man.

When he's mere steps away, his expression is serene again. Almost as if Natori had imagined the fear from a mere minute ago.

If not for the traces of some strange emotion that lingered in the boy's eyes.

"You scared me." The boy says and his voice is a bit too quiet, like he's not used to talking. There's a strange smile on his face.

Not mocking like he's used to seeing on the 'faces' of spirits or humans. Genuine. A small, little smile.

"Not many people are out at this time." The boy continues, "So I wasn't expecting to see anyone else."

"Neither was I." Natori says finally and his usual smile was fixed in place, "Can I help you with something?"

"Oh." The boy blinks. His face settles into a thoughtful frown, "I'm sorry. You look like someone I knew once."

"Did you know this person a long time ago?" He seemed like a peaceful enough spirit…but just in case, Natori allowed a paper charm to slip from his sleeve to his palm.

"…How did you know?"

"You seemed to have…a slightly nostalgic look on your face. But you were more surprised than anything."

The boy laughs. Unlike his smile, it sounded empty.

"Ah, yes. I did. We were…close. But he's not here anymore."

Did he leave this person behind?

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"No, I'm sorry for bringing it up." The boy shakes his head and smiles again. "I'm sorry." He apologizes again.

He looks strangely pathetic like this. Despite himself, Natori feels a bit sorry for him.

And then, Natori notices something odd.

"…Why are your clothes wet?" And wait a second…was that a school uniform?

"Oh. I lost this umbrella at one point. It was still raining then." The boy shivers then, on cue and hugs himself with his free hand. His hair was stuck to his face and Natori wonders how in the world he didn't notice the pitiful state the boy was in.

So most likely not a spirit after all.

Natori's almost disappointed. Almost.

"Maybe you should head back home."

"I should, shouldn't I?" The boy takes a step back. But there's a strangely longing look in his eyes. Like he didn't want to leave.

"You really cared for this person, didn't you?"

Natori simply blurted that out.

And the boy looked completely taken aback with that sentence.

"Why do you say that?"

Was it his imagination or was there a slight flush of red on his cheeks?

"You look kind of…down."

"Haha…I'm sorry. I'm bringing down your mood, aren't I?"

"Hm?"

"You looked like you were enjoying the rain." The boy bows his head and then walks back to the crossing.

He pauses. Then he looks back.

"You came to inspect the Yatsuhara Field, didn't you?"

And Natori stops smiling immediately.

Yes. Yes, he did indeed.

For reasons a bit more sinister than a change of scenery.

"Cursed in this lifetime too…" The boy murmurs, shaking his head.

"What do you mean?"

"I have friends there. Please be careful who you seal away…exorcist."

"…I'm not someone who seals away any half-bit ayakashi in my path." Natori says.

"I figured as much."

"Hey." Natori called after him, walking after him and the boy stops again, "What's your name?"

The boy looks back at him yet again.

The expression on his face stops Natori dead in his tracks.

The boy's eyes were alight with an almost beautiful glow that shone, reflecting off the strange, honey-colored irises.

"Natsume. Natsume Takashi. And though you may spend every moment of your time here regretting knowing this…I hope…"

Natsume ducks his head, walks to the other end of the crossing.

And finally looks at Natori again.

He doesn't speak this time though.

His words are empty, slipping past his lips silently but Natori can still hear them in his mind.

"I'll keep remembering you even if you forget about me."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 **Songs used for inspiration:**

 **The songs listed in the Yanderella OST [the mostly peaceful and slightly angsty ones]**

 **yeah essentially what happened is they both got reincarnated into the present story canon and only natsume remembers their past life as lovers**

 **yeah**

 **look I wanted to write a natonatsu story and make it fluff and before I knew it it turned to angst**

 **im so sorry**

 **it's a curse I tell ya**

 **the next one will be happy promise**

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


End file.
